Court appearance set for suspect in Colorado clinic shooting as speculation swirls over motive

Colorado Springs shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear of North Carolina is seen in undated photos provided by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. A gunman burst into a Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 and opened fire, launching several gunbattles and an hourslong standoff with police as patients and staff took cover. By the time the shooter surrendered, at least three people were killed, including a police officer and at least nine others were wounded, authorities said. (El Paso County Sheriff's Office via AP)
(The Associated Press)

A crime scene investigator looks over one of the police vehicles damaged during Friday's shooting near a Planned Parenthood clinic Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015, in northwest Colorado Springs, Colo. Three people were killed in Friday's five-hour standoff, including a police officer, while clinic staffers and patients hid on site. Suspect Robert Lewis Dear is expected to make his first court appearance Monday. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(The Associated Press)

Bethany Winder, a nurse who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., plants a sign in support of Planned Parenthood just south of its clinic as police investigators gather evidence near the scene of Friday's shooting at the clinic Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015, in northwest Colorado Springs. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(The Associated Press)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The man accused of opening fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs is making his first appearance in court.

Fifty-seven-year-old Robert Lewis Dear is accused of killing three people, including a police officer, on Friday. The shootout lasted several hours and also left nine other people in the hospital.

Colorado Springs authorities said Sunday that they wouldn't talk about a possible motive for the attack, leaving such details to the court proceedings and fueling speculation over Dear's intentions.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh says officials could pursue federal charges in addition to state homicide ones. He says investigators have been in touch with the Justice Department's Civil Rights and National Security divisions.

The court appearance will be done by video Monday afternoon in Colorado Springs.